Player Characters/Ping
Ping is the current name used by the longest surviving escapee of the Chuen house. Description Ping is tall for a woman, taller than many men. Her body is lean and darkened from her years of travelling. She wears her hair loosely over her shoulders. Her weapon of choice is the Jian and she has skill in driving its tip through her enemies' most vital points. However, she prefers to manipulate her opponents' defense, allowing her comrades to strike at the unguarded vitals. In dire circumstances she has displayed magical abilities ranging from amplified vocal capacity to spitting gouts of fire. History: Shan'Lao Mountain On the third floor of the Desert Maiden, confronted by Asif, she revealed to the party her story. "My people have a tale that begins in prehistoric days when man still had reason to fear the monsters hidden in shadow. Of all the scattered tribes who would later unite under the banner of Wei the people who settled the foot of Shan'Lao mountain were proudest. They claimed the best of humanity; the bravest warriors, the wisest advisors and rulers, the fairest young men and women, and the strongest worshippers of the God Mountain Shan'Lao. They burned incense and chanted prayers to the mountain and enjoyed favor above all other peoples. In pride they distinguished themselves from the likes of the heathens who settled the rivers or wandered the plains as nomads. Beyond human, they sought to become more and more like the sacred mountain. To that end they gathered the greatest of their blessed people and sent them to speak with Shan'Lao at the summit. The defiling stench of man no longer clung to their ascended bodies so the forbidden slopes were opened. Chieftan Shan Dao Tang II led a party of four others; his son the Shan Dao Tang III, his favored retainer Li Shuo Gar, his brother-in-law Huoyu of the Red Spear, and the two high priestesses, Qin-La and Hua-Xiang. Their hubris led them up and up to a world thence unseen by human eyes. The trees grew thicker, the air was as cloud-mist, the streams ran with nectar, and they were never more sure in their conviction. The only mystery was the wildlife. The birdsongs ended as they drew near, the monkeys abandoned their cries, and any game they approached knew to fear them though man had never climbed so high. In the late afternoon they heard a silence deeper and broader than any others, as if the winds themselves had ceased. The mountain groaned under footsteps as not dozens can reproduce. Looking through the canopy the party saw the face of a blue-skinned giant; horrendous of stench, lazy-eyed, grinning through crooked-teeth, and muscled with power incarnate. The oni of myth looked upon them and fear took their hearts. History: The Long Suffering "Heroes are not meant to succumb to the fear of death, for too great is their will and too loyal their bonds, but the gaze of the oni turns heroes to madmen. What whispers the men in the party heard, no one can say but the son took a knife to the neck of his father, Li Shuo Gar cut down the son, and the brother-in-law took his own life. Li Shuo Gar realized what he had done by reflex and succumbed to grief before he was crushed under the heel of the oni. The monster's unmoving lips whispered to Qin-La and Hua-Xiang and promised them audience with their God Shan'Lao. It picked them up both in its right hand and climbed with its left to the summit. The air was too thin and a pale mist came over their eyes. Upon waking, they found themselves surrounded by oni who gazed at them lustfully. The largest of them called itself Shan'Lao and laced on them cruel enchantments to bind their will to its own. It wanted to know where these beautiful women came from and they gave up their home. The fathers and sons of the tribe were slaughtered and the mothers and daughters were enslaved, raped, and impregnated without end. Their half-breed daughters were born into their fate and the lucky ones were swallowed alive by the oni as wriggling delicacies. The half-breed sons of the oni, though weaker and smaller were blessed with the wit and the cunning to join them in the torment of their mothers. History: Descent "Aeons passed before the growing tension between pure blooded oni and their bastard sons eventually snapped in a battle that shook the mountain. Abuse of the mixed blooded sons returned magnified and the rivers of Shan'Lao were thickened with blood. The chaos annihilated most of the slave-women as father and son covetously pulled them limb from limb, but a few managed to exploit the pandemonium and flee. The blood of the oni ran thin in these few escapees and they were able to build lives with the rare open-minded human. Their cursed heritage drifted into the past as a memory, but the stains of cruelty cannot die. Over still more aeons the oni-blooded humans forgot the horrors of their bondage and took slaves of their own, repeating the evil of their ancestors. This is the story of my family. Next I will tell you my story. The Daughter of Huan-Yue "My mother was Huan-Yue, the most favored slave of the Chuen house. I do not know who my father was. My mother could not give me a name, and growing up I answered to Bènzhuō because I was clumsy among my brothers and sisters in slavery. That is not my name and you will never make the mistake of calling me that. Twelve years ago my mother used her position to engineer the largest mass escape of slaves in recent history. Myself and six other children were carried out by four adults who stayed to hold off the Xiongshen assassins for a brief moment. I ran and ran and ran some more as four of the children fell to arrows and another was captured and his throat slit. I reached the city limits with my friend Xiao. She kept running and I hid in a refuse pile. After a few minutes I heard her scream. I remained in that pile for two days without opening my eyes or mouth. On the third day I heard footsteps approach, lighter than a man's. It was a little beggar girl digging through trash. She looked somewhat like me so I surprised her, strangled her unconscious, took her clothes, made her wear my slave's garments, and ran away. The name written on her clothes was Rui so for two months I went by that name. I wandered from village to village, looking for work or charity. I had only my skills and my body to trade but I survived. I changed my name as I travelled for fear of being hounded by the Xiongshshen assassins. When I met Ling for the first time, I was calling myself Ping. By then I had not encountered the assassins for some time and travelling with a companion assuaged my fear to the point where I have not changed my name in nine years. However, I think it might be time once more. Then again, that depends on whether or not I can count on the three of you to remain by my side. If you abandon me, Ping will die and I will survive, but if you will stand with me against the Xiongshen assassins then I will remain Ping. I have grown quite fond of the name."